BA's Corner: Where's Daddy?

AA, Nana, and I were sitting at the table tonight while I fed Leah her dinner.  Halfway through....

BA: "Leah, where's Mommy?"

Leah looks at AA and points to her.

BA: "Good job.  Now, where's Nana?"

Leah looks at Nana and smiles.

AA: "Good job."

Nana: "Where's Daddy?"

Leah shakes her head "no."

One Small Step for Peanut, One Giant Leap into Toddlerland

Leah took her first official steps on Labor Day - September 3rd, 1 week before her 14-month birthday.  She'd taken a step here and there for about a week when we tricked her into it, but on this day she began stringing them together. 

Yesterday was the first day we could get her to walk between something other than 2 people.  (The book "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" seemed to do the trick...she loves sliding the little windows).  Tonight, she surprised us by suddenly walking halfway across the room to AA.  She's getting better and more confident each day.  But we tend to wear her out "practicing" - she certainly lets us know when we've hit the limit.

We're proud of our little Peanut!

Quesadilla Night

Baby Joy

First Balloon

This is Leah playing with her first balloon back on her 1st birthday. It's the only toy she has that takes weeks to wind up on the floor rather than seconds. I was actually impressed that, after she figured out that she needed to grab the string, she figured out how to hold the string.

After Dinner

Now, I know what you're thinking....how much did she actually get in her mouth?

For the Record: Let's Go!

We spent our first weekend at home in 3 weeks.  Unfortunately, BA was sick for most of it.  But we managed to hit the park for some family walking and Peanut swinging.  

Leah added a few things to her "bag of tricks" this weekend, and we got rid of the crib bumpers (which means we have pacifiers flying everywhere at night!).  She's walking pretty well with just one hand now, and can stand for a second or two if you let go.  She'll squat down, but won't attempt to stand up on her own yet.  But she's mastered the heel-to-toe technique, as long as someone is holding her hand.  It's pretty adorable. 

She is blowing kisses (even making the "kissing" sound a little).  She also copied us by saying "Let's Go" and sometimes just "Go."  She also said "big girl" again. 

She bounces balls straight at you, and she discovered that her pacifier bounces on the kitchen floor!  She enjoyed that.

And she likes to sit in her booster seat on the floor in her room.  At first we strapped her in, but then she threw her pacifier across the floor.  So we unbuckled her without her realizing it, and she still thought she couldn't move.  It was pretty funny to watch her reach so hard for her pacifier.  Now we don't strap her in, and she just sits there like a little lady.  After a while, she gets out to look around, then crawls back up to it, but she can't figure out how to get back in.  So she ends up just standing beside it until we put her back in.

While Skyping with BA's parents, BA had to leave the room to grab the laptop power cord.  After waving bye to Dad, the Peanut stayed right in front of the screen staring at Nana until BA returned.  He was so proud that she didn't wander off to climb the stairs or otherwise injure herself.  Then she commenced to show off her walking and straw cup sipping (which she has finally mastered after about 3 months of trying). 

But one of our favorite "tricks" that she's picked up the past few days has been her cuddling.  She's been awfully snuggly recently around us...hugging us and resting her head on us.  And she'll let us rock her to sleep for a few minutes.  We're not sure if this is because she hates daycare so much or is just going through a phase of wanting to be around us constantly.  Either way, we're trying to soak it up (while correcting the daycare issue, of course). 

Here's the scooter at her daycare class.  How cute are these kids in their little chairs all having breakfast together?  Notice the one kid that has to be held by the teacher?  Yep, you guessed it.  That's Princess Peanut, who was too upset to eat her Cheerios next to the other kids.  (Maybe it didn't help that Dad was taking a picture of the calamity).